Werkha - Unsung Irregular - VINYL LP

John Matthias - Village Grren [VINYL LP] 180 Gram, date 06/30/2017

One hundred and fifty years of harpsichord music at Versailles, under the reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV and Louis XV French harpsichord music is inseparable from the Court, which gave rise to it's greatest performers. The Harpsichord Cycle at Versailles is an anthology of this extraordinary repertoire. The reign of Louis XIII (1610-1643) and the construction of the first Versailles (1624) saw the practice playing the harpsichord take hold in France and it immediately became the virtuoso instrument of the salons. The King's passion for music and ballet led him to compose himself. Here are masterpieces by the early masters, pieces from the famous ballets that the King danced, and even a work composed by the king himself, all brought together and exalted by the illustrious and virtuoso playing of Arnaud de Pasquale, who is compelling in this repertoire of the pioneers of the French harpsichord.

Two years ago, a unique performance took place at the Archa Theatre in Prague in which the legendary Czech folk musician Dagmar Vonková performed her repertoire. This time, however, Vonková did not appear as a soloist but accompanied by a band composed of eight major figures on the local musical scene Beata Hlavenková, Dorota Barová, Marcel Bárta, Oskar Török, Miloš Dvorácek, Jirí Slavík, Marian Friedl, Petr Ostrouchov and the singer Lenka Dusilová as guest. Animal Music now releases a life recording of this concert. The band was assembled on the initiative of the producer of the project, Petr Ostrouchov, who designed the program especially for the Strings of Autumn festival in the year of Dagmar Vonková's seventieth birthday. The concert was offered as a tribute to this remarkable folk singer who has been part of the musical scene since the 1970s when she first came with her wholly original combination of traditional folk song with a unique approach to guitar play and an expressive way of singing. Remarkably, her music and reputation spanned the borders of Czechoslovakia. Accompanied on the piano, wind instruments, double bass, the drums, percussions, folk flutes or cimbalom, Vonková's songs, characterized by a strong folk-poetic drive, can be heard in a new flourish of colors in the present recording. The many-layered arrangements are the work of members of the accompanying band whose own musical language draws on jazz and contemporary music as well as current songwriting and folk-song.